Statin cholesterol-lowering drugs are widely touted as the best way to lower your cholesterol and thereby prevent a heart attack. They’re recommended to people who have “high cholesterol,” those who have heart disease, and even for some healthy people as a form of preventive medicine. Statins are among the most widely prescribed drugs on the … Read more
What they do: Statin drugs lower LDL cholesterol (up to 60 percent, at high doses) as well as reduce inflammation and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. The stats: Some 15 million to 20 million people currently take statins. Drugs like Crestor, Lipitor, and Vytorin have become the first-line treatment, with some doctors even suggesting every adult … Read more
By Erin Quinn The notion that high cholesterol causes heart disease has allowed doctors to write millions of prescriptions for cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins that can reduce the risk of it. That seemingly indisputable notion has long suffered from an inconvenient fact: Half the people who have a heart attack don’t have high cholesterol. So, … Read more